Sterling man pleads guilty to murder in killing of Muslim teen

The teens had set out from their Sterling mosque last year for a pre-dawn meal, a common way to celebrate the Ramadan holiday. But what was supposed to be festive quickly turned to horror.

In the span of a few chaotic minutes, a driver approached the teens as they walked, an argument ensued, and suddenly the stranger was pursuing the teens with his car and then on foot with a baseball bat, a prosecutor told a Fairfax County courtroom Wednesday.

One of the teens heard a “thud and a metal ping” and glanced back to see the man standing over 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen, who was motionless on the ground, the prosecutor said.

It was the last time anyone saw Hassanen alive, but was hardly the end of her suffering.